A man who sent a fake bomb to a COVID-19 vaccine factory has been jailed for two years and three months.

The man, identified as Anthony Collins, 54, ended up stopping production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine when the fake bomb was discovered at the factory on 27th January 2021.

It turned up shortly before 10:30 AM and staff instantly became suspicious and contacted North Wales police. They then evacuated all buildings within a 100-metre radius and called in the bomb disposal experts.

Workers were only allowed to return after the parcel of been carefully detonated by bomb disposal experts.

The decision to carry out a controlled explosion was because an x-ray indicated that it contained objects that could possibly be components of a bomb.

But an examination of the packaging afterwards revealed it was harmless, and along with the objects meant to confuse the experts, there was also a supermarket receipt and a letter, all of which helped identify Collins as the man who sent it, and he was arrested.

The hoaxer, who is from Chatham Hill, in Chatham, had tried to claim that he was not responsible for posting an article that would make people afraid it was going to explode but was nevertheless found guilty following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court today (Wednesday).

Officials at the factory said that production was delayed only briefly and once it was identified, several other packages of a similar nature were identified by the post, and stopped before they reached their targets.

The receipt allowed officers to visit the store where CCTV images were taken showing Collins as the person that had made the purchases.

He was arrested by police officers in Kent where he was put on trial in Maidstone near Chatham which is the regional capital for Kent.

Other evidence included a book that had pages missing that had later been found in the hoax bomb.

Despite pleading not guilty, it was revealed he had known details of what was in the box that only the sender could have known, and he had also admitted sending it without giving a reason. But he said it was not meant to be seen as a bomb.

Kent Police’s senior investigating officer for the case, Detective Inspector Adam Marshall, said: “Collins was fully aware of the impact his actions would have and chose to impede the vaccine rollout when the programme was still in its infancy.

“Although the device he sent was not a viable explosive, the people at the site had every reason to believe there was a threat to their safety and they acted in a diligent and thoroughly appropriate way.

“Thankfully the disruption Collins caused was not substantial, but his actions were an unnecessary distraction. I am pleased that we have been clearly able to prove his guilt and that he has been held to account.”